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Sauna Open Air 2011 - Day 2 - 6/10/2011 - Eteläpuisto - Tampere

Rytmihäiriö (Park Stage):
The first band of a new day, it was time for some Finnish “surmacore” (“surma” being archaic Finnish for death). The gig started with a spoken intro telling the audience about god, what a way to start the morning. When the first proper song, “Siriuksen Samurai” (Samurai of Sirius), started, there was already a lot of people. It was good to see that in spite of the heat, people were still alive and ready for some metal.
They played an assortment of their best songs, like “Jumalaton näytelmä” (Undivine Comedy), “Totalitääriseen juoppohulluuteen” (Into a Totalitaric Drunken Madness) and of course the hit “Saatana on herra” (Satan is Master). The vocalist had to have a drinking pause, since he hadn’t had the time to pour enough Gambina into him. They finished off the show with “Muovipussi päähän ja ruumis suohon” (Put a Plastic back on his Head and Dump the Corpse in a Swamp).
A good basic gig, hadn’t seen them in a while, and the mood was right.
3½/5

Turisas (Main Stage):
Next up was the folk metallers Turisas, in their signature red and black war paint. They started off their set with “To Holmgard and Beyond”, which I have to admit got the mood going again. Their music is so ful of “LAILAILAI”, that is just the proper soundtrack to have some brewskies. Sadly, the new songs of the recent album really don’t work live, except “Stand up and Fight”, which gets the audience to raise both their fists and beers in the air. A properly varangian feeling indeed.
They also had a good violin versus accordion face-off, which did go to the fair maiden with the fast fingers and a stylish accordion. They finished off their set with the awesome “Sahti-Waari” and “Battle Metal” with its proper crowd enticing parts. A solid gig despite the lack of “oomph” in the new songs.
3½/5

Viikate (Park Stage):
Viikate kicked off their gig with the first pyro of Sauna, it was about fukken time! I haven’t listened much to them before, so I didn’t get that much out of their gig. They were a bit on the un-heavy side for a metal festival, but they do have a very punk/metal attitude towards their rock. Also, they managed to get the biggest crowd so far for the Park Stage.
2½/5

Cavalera Conspiracy (Main Stage):
Then it was finally time for one of the most awaited, at least for me, band of Sauna. Having just a few months earlier discovered the band, I was really looking forward to see them live in person (instead of on a bonus live DVD). They started their set with a bit disappointingly slow song, which didn’t do much to get the crowd going, a peculiar choice. Luckily, from the second song onwards the killing was on. A combination of “Torture” and “Inflikted” was awesome and really got the pits going properly for the first (and sadly last) time in Sauna.
Max looked really tired, and kinda grey. He doesn’t usually do much on stage nowadays, but he still seemed very dead somehow. This was made up for by the other guitarist (also from Soulfly) who had an insane amount of energy, both in his playing and in his stage presence. Some great highlights of the gig were of course Sepultura’s “Refuse/Resist” and CC’s newest hit, “Killing Inside”. “Blackheart” had as guest vocalist the 20-years-old Ritchie Cavalera, who managed to bring a lot of energy to the stage. The set ended very unsurprisingly with “Roots Bloody Roots” and a huge jumping crowd.
4½/5

DORO (Main Stage):
Doro herself is a living legend, even though I’ve never heard her music, I was more than well familiar with this First Lady of Metal. She is such an energetic and charismatic hell-raiser that I’m sad that her music really didn’t do much for me. They play pretty straight-forward heavy metal and she still has a great voice. There was A LOT of people to see them play, and a few of the most fanatic fans even threw her a bouquet of flowers. She said that she was here in Finland for the first time since -86, but instead of her story my attention was drawn to her awful German accented English, it sounded like a bad Bond villain. All-in-all, they played faster and slower songs, but it just felt a bit dated, like it ought to have stayed in the eighties it was conceived in.
3/5

Dio Disciples (Park Stage):
This was probably the most interesting project for me. The passing of Dio was a very sad day and a huge loss to Metal as a whole. The fact that the rest of the guys from DIO would continue to tour in honor of the Great One seemed like a perfect homage. The impossible task of stepping in for the greatest vocalist ever, befell on “Ripper” Owens (of at least Judas Priest fame) and a relatively unknown younger guy who had been in a Dio cover band.
“Stand up and Shout” was the first song, and that was exactly what the crowd did. “Holy Diver” was next, and even though Ripper of course couldn’t quite nail the legendary voice, at times, with closed eyes, one could almost believe that it was Dio on stage. I can’t come up with a better compliment. The other vocalist wasn’t as good as Ripper, but he could still carry his weight in such songs as “Bless Me” and “Neon Knights”. Rainbow was well represented, with “Stargazer”, “Long Live Rock ’n Roll” and “Man on the Silver Mountain”.
There were so many people watching that I couldn’t believe this act had to be on the smaller stage, if I had been in charge I would’ve made this Friday’s main act and dropped the next band to the Park Stage. When they got to “Heaven and Hell” the crowd really proved their might, with the theme chorus echoing all around, so loud was it being sung. With “Rainbow in the Dark” they ended their awesome set.
If I had any doubts about whether Dio Disciples was a good idea, they were completely eradicated by this awesome gig. It was a really emotional gig, with people on and off the stage having difficulties to keep the tears from flowing. It was heart-warming to hear these songs live again, where they belong. For me, this was the final band of the evening, ’cos with what can you follow up after DIO? RIP RJD, you will be missed in so many ways.
5/5

Saxon (Main Stage):
After the highly emotional show of Tim Owens and his Dio Disciples, the final act on the Main Stage is The legend of NWOBHM: needless to say, Saxon. I didn’t quite like much yet the new album, except for a bunch of songs with their own classic trademark, but the groove is totally different in a live setting, as shown by the opener “Hammer Of The Gods”, followed by classics such as “Heavy Metal Thunder” and “Never Surrender”, which somehow became the personal anthem of the weekend.
Luckly Biff is in a good shape today and so are the other guys, always ready to rock your socks off so to speak, if someone had any since there’s like 30°C. The show is still far from its highest moment though, while “Back in ’79” confirms the live nature of the newest Saxon pieces. It’s really nice to see many young teenagers in the first rows, as even the singer points out, to testify the band’s ability to cross generations with their Heavy Metal.
The central part of the gig loses a bit of grip on the crowd, with some not-so-convincing songs from the latest records, with the exception of “Call To Arms”, as cheesy as it could be, this song set a very melancholic atmosphere, the one that usually gets people holding their lighters in the air. Fortunately I didn’t see it happen this time, or I just failed to notice it. Completely different is the reaction to “Crusader”, where even I can’t really contain myself and disappear for a moment to reach the front line.
The ending is all for the past (and the best, of course), starting with the hymn “Denim & Leather”, where even our Metal Queen Doro Pesch climbs on stage to sing the last chorus. My all time Saxon favourite “Princess Of The Night” comes next, and I already know, having seen the band many times, that something is still missing. In fact the encore gives to the enthusiastic fans “Wheels of Steel”, with its traditional break where Mr. Byford gets the audience singing, and a bit more surprisingly – still in a good way – the last piece of today’s set is “747...”.
Personally Saxon is one of my favourite bands, and they’ve never disappointed me with their shows. This might not have been one of the best, but the guys there still kicks ass in their own way. I would have just liked to hear more classics, and maybe something from “Lionheart”, rather than all those songs from the latest albums. But there’ll be other opportunities for that. Not maybe soon, since this was the last european date for a while... maybe next year?
(Marco Manzi)

Setlist Saxon:
01) Hammer of the Gods
02) Heavy Metal Thunder
03) Never Surrender
04) Motorcycle Man
05) Back in ’79
06) Atila the Hun
07) Demon Sweeney Todd
08) Call to Arms
09) Dallas 1 PM
10) Crusader
11) Afterburner
12) Denim and Leather (with Doro Pesch)
13) Princess of the Night
--------------------------------------
14) Wheels of Steel
15) 747 (Strangers in the Night)


Photos:
Saxon


Dio Disciples


Doro


Joey Belladonna


Cavalera Conspiracy


Viikate


Turisas


Rytmihäirio


Report a cura di Markus Karppinen